


Serpent Princess

by bughead_is_riverdale



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Serpent Betty Cooper, Southside Serpent, Southside Serpent Betty Cooper, The Ghoulies, alternative universe, bughead - Freeform, the blue and gold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-04 02:43:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12761442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bughead_is_riverdale/pseuds/bughead_is_riverdale
Summary: After a drugs raid on Southside High, most of the teenage Serpents are arrested and given jail time, but not Betty Cooper. Not even the police would touch the Serpent Princess. Southside High is closed down and she is forced to attend Riverdale High, where she expects nothing but hypocritical northsiders, but then she meets a blue-eyed beanie-wearing boy with Southside roots.





	Serpent Princess

Betty Cooper listened to the satisfying click of her black heeled boots against the tiled floor as she strutted down the hall of Riverdale High, drawing the attention from everyone around her. Her black leather jacket clung to her like a second skin, moulding seductively to the curve of her breasts and hips, and the emerald green snake symbol on the back glared at the other students around her, like she had a second pair of eyes. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and her bright green eyes were framed by heavy black eyeliner and thick lashes. Those same eyes glowered around the hallway, making the teenagers around her avert their gaze as she stormed by. Everyone knew to stay away from Betty Cooper. She was the Serpent Princess and she was dangerous.

Today, on her first day at Riverdale High, Betty was pissed off. Most if her friends from Southside High had been arrested in the recent drug raid on the school, prompted by Mayor McCoy’s horror at discovering that her not-so-perfect daughter Josie had been buying drugs from Southside students, and some were even serving jail-time. Betty had only just escaped arrest, partly because she wasn’t stupid enough to store drugs in her locker, but also because she was Serpent royalty. Not even the police would cross her mother, Alice Cooper, the leader of Riverdale’s most notorious gang. 

The school had been closed down as a result and the students were forced to continue their studies in the neighbouring town, but not Betty. Due to her home address being reasonably close to the Northside border, Betty was eligible to attend Riverdale High and she couldn’t think of a better revenge than to pollute the school with Serpent ‘scum’. She hated the attitude of The Northside of Riverdale, appointing themselves as the moral superiors and making it their ‘duty’ to save the town from the corrupt, drug-dealing Southside. She was bad for their perfect all-American image, and she relished in it. 

Betty yanked open the door to her locker, which was completely empty, and began unloading the contents of her bag onto the bare shelves; books, photographs of her and Toni Topaz, cigarettes. The photos of her and her pink-haired best-friend filled her with a renewed sense of anger. Toni was doing six months in a juvenile detention centre for a drug trade that the Serpents were barely involved in. The jingle jangle that was taking Riverdale by storm was being dealt by The Ghoulies, not that the authorities cared. 

“Betty Cooper I assume?” an unfamiliar voice asked, interrupting her train of thought. Betty turned around and frowned as her eyes took in the image of a stereotypical teenage football player. He was tall and broad shouldered with red hair and he was wearing a classic letterman jacket, probably swoon-worthy to most girls, but not Betty. He was flanked either side by two other football players that looked like clones of each other.

“That depends, who’s asking” she replied measuredly, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. 

“I’m Archie Andrews, I’m sure you’ve heard of me” he said smugly, leaning against her lockers.

“No. Do you have a point?” she snapped, losing patience with his arrogant attitude. She heard the sniggers of his two mates behind him and annoyance flashed in his eyes. The interaction was clearly not going the way he was planning. 

“Yeah, I do actually” he shot back, the threat in his voice obvious. “Whatever game that you’re trying to play here, don’t even start. This school isn’t some Serpent breeding ground for all your drugs and violence.”

“Our drugs and violence?” Betty scoffed. “I’ve seen you and your pathetic friends crawling around Southside High searching for a hit, so get down off your fucking high horse and leave me alone” she hissed. Archie’s eyes blazed, he was clearly not used to being argued with.

“Listen to me you stupid Serpent slut -” he began.

“One more word tough boy and you’ll regret it for a year” Betty warned, her tone icy. 

“What are you gonna do blondie? All of your Serpent sidekicks are in jail” he sneered. 

“Not all of them” Betty reminded him, a threatening glint in her eye. “You just put a target on your back, dickhead” a satisfying smile creeping over her face at the slight panic she saw in his eyes. He turned and stalked away, his bodyguards following, and Betty was acutely aware of everyone watching her. She shot a couple of people a dirty look and then carried on unpacking her locker, selecting the appropriate textbooks for the day and stuffing them in her bag.

“Elizabeth Cooper?” a voice asked confidently behind her.

“I swear to God” Betty muttered, assuming that Archie or one of his mates had come back for more, and she span around to face her intruder. “My name is Betty. What’s wrong with you Northsiders?” she said, louder than she had intended.

“That’s a difficult question” the boy in front of her said, shrugging his shoulders and smirking slightly. “Sorry about Archie, he thinks he is Riverdale’s vigilante.”

Betty was caught off-guard by the beanie-wearing boy standing in front of her. His eyes were a startling shade of blue, the colour intensified by his dark hair, and she couldn’t detect any judgement or fear in them. He wore no letterman jacket, but a denim sherpa jacket instead that fitted his lanky frame nicely, and his suspenders were hanging off his hips. She recognised him from somewhere but doubted that he had ventured into Southside High to purchase drugs, she couldn’t picture him there anyway. He was handsome, she thought, in an untraditional sort of way. She was about to apologise for her rudeness but stopped herself, she had an image to maintain.

“Well he’s messing with the wrong person” she growled, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder, her other hand tightening on her bag.

“I don’t doubt it” Jughead laughed. “In fact, it would probably do him some good to get taught a lesson by The Serpents. He’s all talk that one.” Betty raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m Jughead Jones by the way, I’m supposed to be giving you your tour.” he informed her.

“Jones? FP’s kid?” She asked, suddenly realising why he didn’t seem at all phased by her Serpent-image. FP Jones was a prominent member in the gang, sort of like her mother’s right-hand-man, but everyone knew that his kid was off limits. Jughead certainly looked like his father, maybe that was why she felt like she recognised him.

“Yep, don’t hold it against me?” he teased, winking at her. Most guys who flirted with Betty usually ended up with a black eye, by this time the Serpent Princess just rolled her eyes and laughed.

“So where’s my tour, Jones?”

Jughead chatted easily to Betty as he showed her around the school. He didn’t seem to notice the questioning glances that they were getting from the rest of the student body, in fact, he didn’t seem to notice anyone but Betty. He told her about the history of the school, the range of classes on the syllabus, extra-curricular activities. Betty just snorted when he mentioned that tryouts for the River Vixens were coming up the following week.

“Not my scene” Betty sniggered, “you’ll never catch me out of this leather jacket I assure you.”

“So what’s your hobby then? You can’t spend all your free time with the Serpents” he pointed out.

“I like photography I guess” Betty shrugged, “I don’t suppose you guys have a photography studio hidden in this place do you?” she teased.

“No, but…” Jughead began, a small smile playing on his lips.

“What?” Betty asked casually, trying not to think about how adorable he looked when he smiled like that.

“The school has a newspaper, The Blue and Gold. I’m the only one that really writes for it and we need a photographer” he said, a hopeful tone seeping into his voice. Betty knew that she should say no. After all, she had promised herself not to get involved in any extracurricular activities at the rival school, but Jughead’s pleading blue eyes made her hesitate. 

“Show me the way, Jones” she replied, grinning at him.

 

It was nearly Christmas, and Riverdale was covered in so much snow that it was impossible to separate The Southside from The Northside. Betty had been attending Riverdale High for almost three months and, after a few of her Serpent gang-members had caught up with Archie and his friends out of school and taught them the lesson they had been asking for, nobody had challenged her. 

School had been cancelled today because the pipes had frozen over, but Betty was already in a good mood because she had had a phone call from Toni to tell her that she would be out of jail in a month on good behaviour. Toni had enrolled in Riverdale High as well, much to the delight of her girlfriend Cheryl Blossom, and Betty couldn’t wait to see her again as she had been banned from visiting due to her connection with The Serpents. 

Betty hadn’t bothered making an effort with anyone at Riverdale High apart from Jughead. They had spent almost every lunchtime cooped up together in the Blue and Gold’s office, working on their articles, or hiding out behind the football stands to smoke cigarettes. Sometimes, after school, they would meet up at Pop’s and have a milkshake while they did their homework, or discussed new Riverdale secrets that they could bring to light. 

They were together now, sat side by side in their usual booth, as Betty showed Jughead her latest snapshots on her camera. They were working on an article about The Ghoulies, revealing them as the real drug distributors in the town, and Betty had managed to sneak into Ghoulie territory and get photographic evidence of numerous drug deals.

“These shots are amazing Betts!” Jughead enthused, swiping his finger across the screen of her camera. “We might even be able to prompt some arrests from this article.”

“Good, send those Ghoulies to hell” she spat. Jughead smiled, Betty’s enthusiasm for their project was always slightly on the vengeful side. He seemed to be the only person at Riverdale High who wasn’t actually scared of her, aside from Cheryl, and he was starting to understand why.

“That’s the plan” he confirmed. “Also…”

“What? Did you find something else?” Her green eyes lit up, Jughead let his gaze fall to her lips, her red lipstick like a warning against her pale skin.

Jughead leant in, ducking his head to meet hers, and brushed his soft lips against her’s. She let out a small gasp, but welcomed kiss, cupping his face with her hand and pulling him closer. She tasted like vanilla milkshake and cigarettes, and he tasted like coffee, both of them drinking in the flavour of the other. Jughead broke the kiss, leaning back to look at Betty, almost like he was waiting for her reaction. She grinned at him, her green eyes sparkling.

“You’re not going to bite me, Serpent Princess?” he asked teasingly, winking at her.

“Jughead Jones, you have no idea” she purred, pressing her lips to his again. Both of them forgetting that they were from opposite sides of Riverdale’s civil war, or that they were sitting in a booth at Pop’s. In that moment, there was no Northside and Southside, only two teenagers stealing kisses at the back of the all-American diner.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave me feedback:) Follow me on tumblr @bughead-is-riverdale


End file.
